BENGALURU: Desperately in need of money, a mason and his wife killed their owner, a 65-year-old woman, at her residence on the ground floor of a two-storey building in Uttarahalli, south Bengaluru, on Tuesday. The duo tried to sell her 30gm mangalasutra to overcome financial difficulties, police said.
The couple — Prasad Srisaila Makai, 26, and Sakshi, 23, an employee of a jewellery shop, and married for one and a half years — was arrested within a day of the murder. Police said their suspicious behaviour and a missing small pillow strengthened their doubts about the couple's possible involvement in the murder. They rented out accommodation six months ago.
The deceased, Shrilakshmi, was talking to her sister on phone when the couple entered her house on the pretext of checking out TV as they were planning to buy one.
As Shrilakshmi was on a long call, the couple spent some time watching TV. After the call, they assaulted and strangled her to death and robbed the gold chain. They used the pillow to muffle her cries, police said.
The miscreants had not taken the owner's finger ring, a pair of earrings, and nosering.
Police took the couple into custody on Tuesday and interrogated them on Wednesday. They confessed to the crime. The gold chain has since been recovered.
Earlier in the day, when Shrilakshmi didn't answer his repeated calls from 2.15pm, husband Ashwath Narayana, 70, an employee of an incense stick factory, got worried and called their first-floor neighbours and a nephew. He rushed home by 6.30pm after learning that his wife was found lying motionless on the floor.
Ashwath noticed injuries on her neck, lips, and face. She was dead, and her gold mangalya chain was missing. He suspected the tenant-couple behind the murder. Based on his complaint, Subramanyapura police registered a case for murder, robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt.
Police shifted the body for post-mortem on Tuesday night.